1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910792152103321

Autore

Simpson, J. Palgrave (John Palgrave)

Titolo

A Scrap Of Paper : A Comic Drama, In Three Acts. By J. Palgrave Simpson [[electronic resource]]

Pubbl/distr/stampa

London, : Thomas Hailes Lacy, [s.a.]

ISBN

0-8014-7065-X

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource

Disciplina

341.609/041

Soggetti

War (International law) - History - 20th century

Humanitarian law - History - 20th century

World War, 1914-1918 - Law and legislation

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Published [n.d.]. Preliminaries omitted.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

Prologue : what we have forgotten -- Belgian neutrality -- The "Belgian atrocities" and the laws of war on land -- Occupation and the treatment of enemy civilians 191-279 -- Great Britain and the blockade -- Breaking and making international law : the blockade, 1915-1918 -- Germany and new weapons : the submarine, zeppelin, poison gas, flame thrower -- Unrestricted submarine warfare -- Reprisals : prisoners of war and allied aerial bombardment -- Conclusion.

Sommario/riassunto

A century after the outbreak of the Great War, we have forgotten the central role that international law and the dramatically different interpretations of it played in the conflict's origins and conduct. In A Scrap of Paper, Isabel V. Hull compares wartime decision-making in Germany, Great Britain, and France, weighing the impact of legal considerations in each. Throughout, she emphasizes the profound tension between international law and military necessity in time of war, and demonstrates how differences in state structures and legal traditions shaped the way in which each of the three belligerents fought the war. Hull focuses on seven cases in which each government's response was shaped by its understanding of and respect for the law: Belgian neutrality, the land war in the west, the occupation of enemy territory, the blockade, unrestricted submarine warfare, the introduction of new weaponry (including poison gas and the zeppelin), and reprisals. Drawing on voluminous research in German, British, and



French archives, the author reconstructs the debates over military decision making and clarifies the role played by law-where it constrained action, where it was manipulated to serve military need, where it was simply ignored, and how it developed in the crucible of combat. She concludes that Germany did not speak the same legal language as the two liberal democracies, with disastrous and far-reaching consequences. The first book on international law and the Great War published since 1920, A Scrap of Paper is a passionate defense of the role that the law must play to govern interstate relations in both peace and war.